Late Dropping Fruit Suggestions? Southern Middle TN

[TreeNerd]

Hey Guys, Anyone know of any Crabapple, Pear, Persimmon and or Apple varieties that work for my area which is zone 7b. I'm looking for drop times/fruit hold times from October - January. Bow season starts in October where I'm at and Gun season is nov - end of january. I have a variety of trees already planted, just wanting to know if anyone has some time tested varieties that work for this area. Any info is appreciated! Thanks - Long Time Lurker

 

[ourcountryway]

Hey there, there will guys way more qualified to answer than myself but my Kieffer pear trees hang on and drop well into November Im.in 7b.
Thx

 

[TreeNerd]

Hey there, there will guys way more qualified to answer than myself but my Kieffer pear trees hang on and drop well into November Im.in 7b.
Thx

Thanks for the reply, I have a few 4-5 year old kieffer's that I'm waiting for the first fruit on. Its good to know that they may hang into November! I have had 3 bad drought years in a row, so its been a battle trying to keep all my trees headed in the right direction. Appreciate the Info!

 

[Barndog56]

Look for a thread titled 'Mine Still Hanging'. Lots of late drop info in there.

 

[TreeNerd]

Look for a thread titled 'Mine Still Hanging'. Lots of late drop info in there.

I will check that out! Thanks

 

[rocksnstumps]

Also look for threads from Native Hunter. He is in Kentucky I think but not that much different from middle TN would expect.

 

[Native Hunter]

Look up my thread called "Native Hunter Apples 2023." I think it would help you. Good luck.

PS - I tried to post a link but it didn't work. Must be something going on with the new forum issues. I will just bump the thread up to the top so you can find it easily.

 

[TreeNerd]

Thanks, I appreciate the help!

 

[TonySoprano]

I'd say Try The Wildlife Group in Alabama , they have late drop pears and apples etc and I think they might still have some in stock . I planted a Yates Apple tree, "Gilmer Christmas " and "Wildlife Pear" from them last Feb and they are growing great. Blue Hill Wildlife nursery and Whitetail crabs (both in PA) also have what you are looking for.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I would say to give Terry (whitetail crabs ) or Ryan (Blue Hill) a call or email. Both love what they do and are very good at it and will take time to talk through your needs based on your location.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Lot of the apple nuts are a bit further north and tend to use more northern nurseries than OP. For a bit more help with southern stuff you can also look at Century Farm Orchards.

 

[TreeNerd]

Thanks for all the info guys! Here is some info on my property and what I have done with it thus far and plan to do with it. Ok so my place is 80 acres of 6 year old pines, I have owned the property for 5 years and I built my house 4 years ago during Covid *yikes*.... This is the first sizeable piece of land I have ever been able to call my own and realistically 5 acres is the biggest piece of family land we have had. I am from Wisconsin originally (Go Pack!) but moved down South when I was around 12 and have been here ever since. I don't have a lot of experience managing land for whitetails but am a natural go getter and have hunt and fished my whole life. I bought a new john deere tractor with a bucket/impliments when I purchased my property. I do a lot of clearing with the bucket, pushing over pines etc [while the pines are still young]. So any area I plant trees I have to clear myself , also barely any of my property has any flat land at all, My house is on a mountain basically and most of my land is steep with a few creek bottoms down below, so I am always fighting erosion etc. That being said, I absolutely love working on my property and planting trees etc. It's much more than a hobby at this point, its a lifestyle that I am all in on. My property is about a half mile through the woods to Lake Pickwick on the Tenn River (I love to fish). There are around 10k acres of planted pines around my property in all directions, which is why I am trying my best to make my property a hub for wildlife because everything around is established pine that doesn't offer much for the deer. We don't have a very high deer density, as we have tons of coyotes and something I wasn't aware of when I purchased the land ''Wild Pigs''. If you turn dirt in any form or fashion the pigs will find it within a day and root anything you plant up if it doesn't have a cage around it. Early on my food plots got wiped out so quickly that it was very discouraging in the beginning having a new property I couldn't plant... So learning about the pigs and seeing their destructions first hand, put me in the mindset of planting trees for deer. So 2-3 years ago I planted some Chinese Chestnuts from Nativ Nurseries and planted maybe 12 of them (got first nuts this year on 2 trees WOOOOOHOOOO) bit of a moral victory after having to 4wheeler water them during 3 years of bad drought in a row...Its been a whole lot of filling up buckets at the creek and running back and forth slow watering trees lol I also planted around 15 sawtooth oaks that I started from seed the next year after the chestnuts (no nuts yet). I started planting some Fruit trees around the same time, I have a few apple varieties (Fuji, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Arkansas Black, Whitney Crabapple) a couple Pears Varieties (Kieffer, Pineapple Pear). I have been pinching the apples off some of my apple trees the last 2 years since the trees are young. The Pears haven't flowered yet but are getting some nice size trunks on them, so I am sure it wont be to long from now when they flower. I have some regrowth persimmons and some voluntary ones that I have cleared around. I plan on top working some of them with some different varieties for better size and drops. I noted which ones were female last year and plan to top work a few. So far for 2025 I have around 50 persimmon seedlings that are 1 year old in a air bed and maybe 100 sawtooth oaks in a air pruning bed that are also a year old. I will likely plant some persimmon seedlings let them grow and later come back and graft the best varieties when I have my own scion stock established. I plan on top working some Callery pears that I have found here and there around a few of my small plots/orchards. Here is a list of scions I already have coming. Blue Hill Wildlife Nursery - (Crab apples -Winter Crabarina - Dolgo - #5 Crabapple) - (Persimmon - Morris Burton - Deer Magnet) - (Pear - Rifle Deer Pear) Burnt Ridge Nursery - (Apple Scions - Goldrush - Enterprise - 2 Antonovka Apple Rootstock - 2 M111 Rootstock) I also have 50 Dolgo Crabapple seeds coming that I plan on starting in my air beds for next season Grafting for apples. Figured id give you guys the full rundown lol that was definitely a mouthfull. I have been lurking this forum and others searching for ideas and methods others use. Its been very helpful!

 

[bigboreblr]

Think you got your hands full for the year if not 2. Only really do apples. Down by you, granny smith, yates, and black arkansas should be treating you well. Prairefire, transedent, and wickson might be some good warmer weather crabapples. Some of the mom n pop places with their own varieties can be pushing chill hours and bloom groups can be relatively unknown. Dont push usda zones or chill hours. stick within your area's lane.

Dolgo might need 2 years before you graft. Have to see how 2025 treats the seeds Starting them inside might tip the balance of grafting them winter on 25/26 or next year.

Priscillia will be mentioned to you at some point....

Trees are nice, but the whole natural order of things wants to get after them. Bears, to bucks rubbing, racoons, birds picking holes, to frosts, winter scalding, caterpillars, borers, etc........ Simple food plots should be kept in balance with your tree hobby. As the late season comes and winters comes in, I get more an more deer just on rye alone. Keep the foodplot fight going......

 

[rocksnstumps]

Ahh Pickwick Lake. Good fishn and can run multiple states (if your boat is fast enough)

Reminds me of a time when living down in Memphis and going fishing with a good ole boy from the mill. Bass guys are of course idle only by the boat ramp or wide open throttle. Nothing in between. Well as you know Pickwick and the Tennessee River have a lot of barge traffic just like the Mississippi. Those big ole wakes off those barges are lumpy but hard to see. Launching our azz off the top of those 3-4 fters at 70 mph is something I'll never forget. Ya, whole boat flying through the air.

Thanks for the memories Gene. Hope life is still treating you good wherever you are and befriending a yank. And holy cow. Some of those marinas have some huge high dollar boats tied up just like the ocean ones.

 

[TreeNerd]

Think you got your hands full for the year if not 2. Only really do apples. Down by you, granny smith, yates, and black arkansas should be treating you well. Prairefire, transedent, and wickson might be some good warmer weather crabapples. Some of the mom n pop places with their own varieties can be pushing chill hours and bloom groups can be relatively unknown. Dont push usda zones or chill hours. stick within your area's lane.

Dolgo might need 2 years before you graft. Have to see how 2025 treats the seeds Starting them inside might tip the balance of grafting them winter on 25/26 or next year.

Priscillia will be mentioned to you at some point....

Trees are nice, but the whole natural order of things wants to get after them. Bears, to bucks rubbing, racoons, birds picking holes, to frosts, winter scalding, caterpillars, borers, etc........ Simple food plots should be kept in balance with your tree hobby. As the late season comes and winters comes in, I get more an more deer just on rye alone. Keep the foodplot fight going......

Thanks for the advice, I have been trying to establish clover in my plots/tree plots for a while but the droughts have been so bad here lately, it's crazy I watch it rain on the lake from my living room and bone dry all summer on my property lol 3 bad summers in a row... I have planted oats and rye before and the deer love it, so do the pigs unfortunately.. I am going to check out some of the varieties you mentioned and maybe add a few if I can figure out where to add some more!

 

[TreeNerd]

Ahh Pickwick Lake. Good fishn and can run multiple states (if your boat is fast enough)

Reminds me of a time when living down in Memphis and going fishing with a good ole boy from the mill. Bass guys are of course idle only by the boat ramp or wide open throttle. Nothing in between. Well as you know Pickwick and the Tennessee River have a lot of barge traffic just like the Mississippi. Those big ole wakes off those barges are lumpy but hard to see. Launching our azz off the top of those 3-4 fters at 70 mph is something I'll never forget. Ya, whole boat flying through the air.

Thanks for the memories Gene. Hope life is still treating you good wherever you are and befriending a yank. And holy cow. Some of those marinas have some huge high dollar boats tied up just like the ocean ones.

Yep that's Pickwick Lake for sure, I don't fish during the daytime in the Summer anymore, the pleasure boat traffic is nuts. Plus nowadays people will fish right on top of you... There are so many tournaments every weekend, the bass get lockjaw, plus it's 100 degrees normally ...I do alot of nighttime bass fishing. I also have a bass boat and it doesn't like to idle either lol I have launched out of the water several times from rogue waves on main lake not a great feeling lol I have a great view from my house, I can see TN,MS, and AL from my living room. As far as the high dollar boats, it's getting to where you can't even fish in a marina anymore because they dont want you around the yachts etc.. You wonder where these people get all this money lol or atleast I wonder haha

 

[Native Hunter]

One thing you are going to notice is this - Most apples drop a lot earlier in your zone than they do up North. It's very true for my location, and it will be even more that way for you. You are going to find that apples which drop in November for someone in Wisconsin could drop 6 to 10 weeks earlier for you. I'm finding that my fruit (as a general rule) drops 4 to 7 weeks earlier than what is shown on the Blue Hill Chart. Bottom line is that it will be hard for you to find apples that drop into late November.

As time goes on I will update my apple thread, so keep checking it. I have some young Blue Hill trees that are will be bearing in the next few years, and hopefully some of those may help to fill November better for me than what I already have. Best Wishes.

 

[Native Hunter]

Yep that's Pickwick Lake for sure, I don't fish during the daytime in the Summer anymore, the pleasure boat traffic is nuts. Plus nowadays people will fish right on top of you... There are so many tournaments every weekend, the bass get lockjaw, plus it's 100 degrees normally ...I do alot of nighttime bass fishing. I also have a bass boat and it doesn't like to idle either lol I have launched out of the water several times from rogue waves on main lake not a great feeling lol I have a great view from my house, I can see TN,MS, and AL from my living room. As far as the high dollar boats, it's getting to where you can't even fish in a marina anymore because they dont want you around the yachts etc.. You wonder where these people get all this money lol or atleast I wonder haha

Before I retired I used to be down that way often. I was an engineering consultant for some of the power companies in that area.

 

[TreeNerd]

Before I retired I used to be down that way often. I was an engineering consultant for some of the power companies in that area.

One thing you are going to notice is this - Most apples drop a lot earlier in your zone than they do up North. It's very true for my location, and it will be even more that way for you. You are going to find that apples which drop in November for someone in Wisconsin could drop 6 to 10 weeks earlier for you. I'm finding that my fruit (as a general rule) drops 4 to 7 weeks earlier than what is shown on the Blue Hill Chart. Bottom line is that it will be hard for you to find apples that drop into late November.

As time goes on I will update my apple thread, so keep checking it. I have some young Blue Hill trees that are will be bearing in the next few years, and hopefully some of those may help to fill November better for me than what I already have. Best Wishe

One thing you are going to notice is this - Most apples drop a lot earlier in your zone than they do up North. It's very true for my location, and it will be even more that way for you. You are going to find that apples which drop in November for someone in Wisconsin could drop 6 to 10 weeks earlier for you. I'm finding that my fruit (as a general rule) drops 4 to 7 weeks earlier than what is shown on the Blue Hill Chart. Bottom line is that it will be hard for you to find apples that drop into late November.

As time goes on I will update my apple thread, so keep checking it. I have some young Blue Hill trees that are will be bearing in the next few years, and hopefully some of those may help to fill November better for me than what I already have. Best Wishes.

I kind of figured when I started sourcing and buying trees that most of the drop times would be off due to my location being further south than most of the online wildlife nurseries. I have read a bunch of your threads and posts and plan on following along on your tree journeys! This forum has a bunch of great info and you guys are open to sharing your findings which is awesome in my book!

 

[bigboreblr]

Before I retired I used to be down that way often. I was an engineering consultant for some of the power companies in that area.

Good. Been pulling my hair out with a SEL relay at work.

Tree nerd,

Dig around in the threads for a summer or two ago. Some real good info on what to plant. A whole mix of different things, different approaches, both simple no till to more elaborate offerings. Plant a mix of things. Even within clover species, some fare better in hot summers. Some are better for clay vs sandy soil.

Plantain is growing interest with folks on here, something to look into. Got it naturally in my cleared out old commercial apple orchard backyard.

Sometimes embracing the weeds in the area can be a bonus. Southern folks and at times northern guys can really benefit from putting watering holes on your property. I know a kansas guy who a just about entirely fallow fields and water holes and does pretty well.